him recalled or even permit him
to resign at the moment. So we abducted him, intending to hold him
until direct orders could reach him from Paris. Understand, please, that
all these things were made possible by the aid and cooperation of
dozens, scores, of agents who were under my orders; every person who
appeared in that abduction was working at my direction. The ambassador's
unexpected escape disarranged our plans; but he was taken out of the
embassy by force the second time under your very eyes. The darkness
which made this possible was due to the fact that while you were looking
for the switch, and I was apparently aiding, I was holding my hand over
it all the time to keep you from turning on the light. You remember
that?"

Mr. Grimm nodded.

"All the rest of it you know," she concluded wearily. "You compelled me
to leave the Venezuelan legation by your espionage, but in the crowded
hotel to which I moved I had little difficulty avoiding your Mr.
Hastings, your Mr. Blair and your Mr. Johnson, so I came and went
freely without your knowledge. The escape of the prince from prison you
arranged, so you understand all of that, as well as the meeting and
attempted signing of the compact, and the rapid recovery of Senor
Alvarez. And, after all, it was my fault that our plans failed, because
if I had not been--been uneasy as to your condition and had not made the
mistake of going to the deserted little house where you were a prisoner,
the plans would have succeeded, the compact been signed."

"I'm beginning to understand," said Mr. Grimm gravely, and a wistful,
tender look crept into his eyes. "If it had not been for that act
of--consideration and kindness to me--"

"We would have succeeded in spite of you," explained Isabel. "We were
afraid of you, Mr. Grimm. It was a compliment to you that we considered
it necessary to account for your whereabouts at the time of the signing
of the compact."

"And if you had succeeded," remarked Mr. Grimm, "the whole civilized
world would have come to war."

"I never permitted myself to think of it that way," she replied frankly.
"There is something splendid to me in a battle of brains; there is
exaltation, stimulation, excitement in it. It has always possessed the
greatest fascination for me. I have always won, you know, until now. I
failed! And my reward is 'Traitor!'"

"Just a word of assurance now," she went on after a moment. "The Latin
compact has been definitely given up; t